Mine control device

Abstract

An arrangement for programming the control of a mine including a pin (16) made of a material having a predeterminable magnetic permeability and inserted into a blind bore-like opening in a mine housing (12). Via a coil disposed in the interior of the mine and surroundng the blind bore-like opening, a resonant output frequency f R ) of an oscillator, which frequency is a function of the permeability of the pin (16), is generated. If the detected resonant output frequency (f R ) corresponds to a frequency (f i ) stored in a frequency/address memory (42), an address (A i ) associated with this frequency (f i ) is read out and fed to a read-only memory (44). This determined address (A i ) causes information (I i ) associated with this address (A i ) in the information memory (44) to be read out so that the action belonging to the respective information (I i ) is initiated within the mine.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An explosive mine comprising: a mine housing having an exterior wall with an inwardly directed projection provided with a blind bore-like opening extending into said projection from an outer surface of said wall; a programmable detonation and safety control unit disposed in said mine housing; a pin having a predetermined desired magnetic permeability removeably disposed in said opening; and electronic circuit means, disposed within said mine housing and controllable by the magnetic permeability of said pin, for programming said detonation and safety control unit, said circuit means including a read-only memory having its output connected to said detonation and safety control unit and containing a plurality of digital informations, each stored at a fixed different address, for programming said detonation and safety control unit, a variable oscillator having an oscillator resonant frequency determining coil, with said coil surrounding at least a portion of said projection, whereby the induction of said coil is a function of the permeability of said pin, and further circuit means, responsive to the output frequency of said oscillator, for producing an address signal for said read-only memory corresponding to the particular output frequency of said oscillator, and for feeding said address signal to said read-only memory to cause the information stored at the address to be read out and program said detonation and safety control unit. 
     
     
       2. A mine as defined in claim 1 wherein said further circuit means includes: a frequency to voltage converter connected to the output of said oscillator for producing an analog output voltage corresponding to the output frequency of said oscillator; an analog to digital converter, connected to the output of said frequency to voltage converter, for converting the analog output voltage to a digital signal corresponding to the output frequency; and a frequency to address memory for producing a particular address signal for said read-only memory corresponding to a particular value of said output frequency of said oscillator. 
     
     
       3. A mine as defined in claim 1, further comprising elastic means, disposed at said opening, for retaining said pin in said opening. 
     
     
       4. A mine as defined in claim 1, wherein said pin is attached to a ball, and said opening is configured to accommodate said pin and substantially all of said ball. 
     
     
       5. A mine as defined in claim 4, further comprising elastic means disposed around said opening at the outer surface of said opening for retaining said pin and said ball in said opening. 
     
     
       6. A mine as defined in claim 4, further comprising means, attached to said ball and extending beyond the outer surface of said wall, for facilitating removal of said pin from said opening. 
     
     
       7. A mine as defined in claim 1, wherein said pin is a sintered mixture of magnetically highly permeable and magnetically neutral materials. 
     
     
       8. A mine as defined in claim 7, wherein the magnetic permeability of said pin is set by the mixing ratio of permeable to non-permeable material. 
     
     
       9. A mine as defined in claim 8, wherein the magnetic permeability of said pin additionally is set by the geometry of said pin. 
     
     
       10. A mine according to claim 9, wherein said pin includes a tubular layer of magnetically permeability material disposed around a core of non-magnetic material. 
     
     
       11. An explosive mine comprising: a mine housing having an exterior wall with an inwardly directed projection; a blind bore-like opening, which extends into said projection from an outer surface of said wall, for receiving a pin having a predetermined desired magnetic permeability; a programmable detonation and safety control unit disposed in said mine housing; and electronic circuit means, disposed within said mine housing, for programming said detonation and safety control unit, said electronic circuit means including a read-only memory having its output connected to said detonation and safety control unit and containing a plurality of digital informations, each stored at a fixed different address, for programming said detonation and safety control unit according to selectable functions and parameters, a variable oscillator having an oscillator resonant frequency determining coil, with said coil surrounding at least a portion of said projection, whereby the inductance of said coil is a function of the magnetic permeability of a pin disposed in said opening, and further circuit means, responsive to the output frequency of said oscillator, for producing an address signal for said read-only memory corresponding to the particular output frequency of said oscillator, and for feeding said address signal to said read-only memory to cause the information stored at the address to be read out and program said detonation and safety control unit. 
     
     
       12. An explosive mine as defined in claim 11 wherein said further circuit means includes: a frequency to voltage converter connected to the output of said oscillator for producing an analog output voltage corresponding to the output frequency of said oscillator; an analog to digital converter, connected to the output of said frequency to voltage converter, for converting the analog output voltage to a digital signal corresponding to the output frequency; and a frequency to address memory for producing a particular address signal for said read-only memory corresponding to a particular value of said output frequency of said oscillator. 
     
     
       13. An explosive mine as defined in claim 11, further comprising elastic means, disposed at said opening, for retaining a pin in said opening.